Opera Innovators Series: W. Stephen Smith Voice Master Class

Boston Conservatory at Berklee welcomes voice and opera pedagogue W. Stephen Smith for a master class, as part of the Opera Innovators Series.

In fall 2011, W. Stephen Smith became a professor of voice and opera at Northwestern University’s Bienen School of Music. Previously, he served on the voice faculty at the Juilliard School from 1998 to 2011. He held a position on the voice faculty of the Aspen Music Festival and school from 1996 to 2017, where he was honored in 2001 and in 2009 as a New Horizons faculty member. Smith also has taught voice at Santa Fe Opera and Opera on the Avalon, and has served on the adjunct voice faculty at Curtis Institute of Music, Teachers College of Columbia University, Stony Brook University, University of Southern California, Los Angeles Young Artist Program, and the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artist Program. 

Smith’s voice students have performed leading roles in most of the major opera houses and concert halls around the world, including the Metropolitan Opera, London’s Royal Opera at Covent Garden, San Francisco Opera, Houston Grand Opera, La Scala, New York City Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, LA Opera, Paris Opera, Oslo Opera, Vancouver Opera, Miami Opera, Sarasota Opera, Omaha Opera, and Des Moines Metro Opera, among many others. In addition to numerous places in the district and regional Metropolitan Opera Auditions, 30 of his students have been national finalists.

Smith holds a Bachelor of Arts in voice from Harding University, a Master of Music in voice from the University of Arkansas, and a Master of Performing Arts in opera from Oklahoma City University. In 2012, he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Arts and Humane Letters from the University of Arkansas. His book The Naked Voice: A Wholistic Approach to Singing was published by Oxford University Press in 2007.

This event is open to Berklee students, faculty, and staff with a valid Berklee ID, and invited guests only. 

W. Stephen Smith is presented as part of Boston Conservatory at Berklee’s Opera Innovators Series in partnership with the Boston Lyric Opera.

Streaming Live from Seully Hall

8 Fenway—Floor 4, Boston, Massachusetts

The event will appear here during its scheduled time.